Sindhu in semis; Sameer, Satwik-Chirag lose in Korea Open quarters

Indian star shuttler P.V. Sindhu advanced to the women's singles semi-finals, while Sameer Verma and the men's doubles pair of Satwiksairaj Rankireddy-Chirag Shetty lost in the quarter-finals of the Korea Open Superseries here on Friday.

Rio Olympic silver medallist Sindhu fought off Japanese Minatsu Mitani with a 21-19, 16-21, 21-10 victory in an hour and three minutes at the SK Handball Stadium.

With this win, three-time World Championships medallist Sindhu has equalised 2-2 in career meetings with the Japanese.

The Indian fifth seed will meet Chinese sixth seed He Bingjiao, who moved past South Korean third seed Sung Ji Hyun with a 21-19 16-21 21-19 victory in an hour and 17 minutes.

Sindhu trails 3-5 in head-to-head record against Bingjiao.

The other women's singles semi-finals will be contested between Japanse talents, reigning world champion Nozomi Okuhara and Akane Yamaguchi.

Sameer, meanwhile, lost to South Korean top seed Son Wan Ho 22-20, 10-21, 13-21 in an hour and nine minutes.

Sameer had stunned Son during first meeting -- at the India Open in March earlier this year. But Son this time played a nearly flawless game to enter the last four stage.

Son will meet Indonesian Anthony Sinisuka Ginting, while Chinese Taipei's seventh seed Wang Tzu Wei will face Indonesian Jonatan Christie in the men's singles semi-finals.

The teenage doubles pair of Satwik-Chirag lost to Japanese third seeds Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda 14-21, 21-17, 15-21 in 55 minutes.

--IANS

pur/dg